Here are the specs for the animated rope assignment:

Work at 24 fps.

Begin with a stationary rope.  It comes alive, falls over and begins to crawl across the stage.  It
stops, stands up, scrunches down and then springs up and out of the frame.

Remember to play with timing, hesitations, etc.  Give the rope life through MOVEMENT, not
through graphic effects such as sweat drops, hearts, sound effects, and so forth.

When in doubt, ACT OUT the movements in with your piece of rope.  Scrub and test the movie
often.  Also, play around with the 'transform all' function.  (Hotkey = q)

And most of all, tell a story and have fun.  The audience wants to be entertained, not bored to
death.

Also, keep drawing in your sketchbooks, one page (two sides) every day.  You can plot
everything out for the above segment in your sketchbook and think your way through the whole
film in pencil before turning on your computer.